Chuck’s Place: Separation & Integration

Separation and integration are necessary operations in the growth of our wholeness. Before the cake batter can be mixed the ingredients must be carefully separated and measured. Next comes the stirring of all the ingredients as they are prepared to be baked into an integrated whole and delicious cake!

The human being is comprised of many separate parts that must be integrated for effective functioning. Take for instance an emotion, be it love, anger or sadness. The river of the bloodstream carries the energy of these emotions as they flood the body in an activated state. If the psyche is uncomfortable with the intensity of these emotional energies it likely stiffens the body’s muscles to dam up and contain this heightened emotional state. This results in a loss of integrated functioning of mind and body.

This in turn can lead to chronic muscle fatigue and depressed mood as the vital energy for life is dammed up in the musculature while what little energy is available is spent largely in a separative defense rather than in a wholistic pursuit of release, joy, and satisfaction.

Yoga and mind/body modalities highlight the use of the breath to support the metabolic processes of the body but also to allow the free flow of dammed emotions and traumatic memories that restrict integrated wholeness and an enlivened spirit. Deep breathing promotes calmness and the ability to release powerful emotions safely. A simple practice of taking a deep abdominal breath several times a day can initiate mind/ body integration.

The Shamans of Ancient Mexico point out that the lion’s share of energy in modern humans is spent on the presentation of the self in everyday life. Thus the ego, with it’s separate concerns about how it looks, how others validate it, and its overall craving for attention, is the largest ingredient of modern life. We readily see this modeled in our current world leaders.

The Shamans recommend that we identify and largely separate out this preoccupation with self-importance from our daily routines and habits to better integrate our energetic reserve for the practices of intent, dreaming, and manifestation.

Those Shamans literally make a written inventory of their typical daily behaviors, eliminating unnecessary attention-seeking energy consumption. If we allow ourselves to reflect on our day, we are able to separate out that which facilitated and that which interfered with a greater integrated functioning of self.

Although I find it disheartening to see the disintegration of the world as we have known it, I am convinced it was unavoidable. I think it is fair to say that the election of Donald Trump was as surprising as the election of Barack Obama. I am still amazed that we saw the election of a black person to the presidency in my lifetime. I am equally amazed by the election of a character like Donald Trump to the world’s highest office.

On the one hand, the Greek principle of enantiodromia was clearly at work here. That principle simply states that one extreme will bring forth its exact opposite. The classic example of this is Saul on the road to Damascus. He begins on a mission to persecute Christians. Suddenly he has an extreme conversion where he becomes Paul, the devout Christian. Trump has defined himself as the exact opposite of Obama.

On the other hand, I think, like Jimmy Carter, that Obama was ahead of his time. In fact the stage was next set for the raising of the feminine to royal status with the election of Hillary. Although this portended the greater integration of human wholeness, it too was ahead of its time. The ingredients for that cake were simply not properly measured nor were they ready for mixing. Instead, we were thrown into an incredible time of separation, worldwide.

A word like immigration has become a four letter word in our time. Nonetheless, this extreme separatism of now allows us to clearly see our differences, which must be faced and reconciled in a very real, not fake way, if we are to once again be able to approach the integration and elevation of the feminine to its rightful ruling authority, Yin and Yang as a balanced whole.

The truth is, America rushed the making of the cake with Obama and nearly did with Hillary as well. But fate intervened, for America had truly not faced nor reconciled its shadow yet. Well, it is reckoning with it now!

You simply can’t force wholeness prematurely. We are in the time of separation and we must accept that. Inwardly we can use this time to face our divided selves and set into motion practical behaviors to shore up our greater integration and evolution into wholeness. Elmer Green,* who recently died at age 99, left us with the vision that in 125 years we’ll be there. Let’s all do our part to make it happen. Begin with the self!

Chuck

* Elmer Green, PhD, noted biofeedback pioneer is also the author, among other books, of The Ozawkie Book of the Dead: Alzheimer’s Isn’t What You Think It Is